TOTAL3: The Real Index Behind the Altcoin Season

🚀 How TOTAL1, TOTAL2, and TOTAL3 Were Born

If you’ve ever scrolled through TradingView charts, you’ve probably noticed something called TOTAL1, TOTAL2, or TOTAL3. They’re not coins. They’re not tokens. They’re market indices that track the total capitalization of the entire crypto market, broken down layer by layer.

These indices were created by TradingView as a way to visualize overall crypto market movements, just like the S&P 500 or NASDAQ do for stocks. But instead of company valuations, they sum up market caps of thousands of cryptocurrencies in real time.

So what they actually are:

• TOTAL1 = the market cap of all crypto assets combined (Bitcoin + Ethereum + all altcoins).

  

  Source: TradingView

• TOTAL2 = all crypto assets except Bitcoin (focuses on the altcoin market).

  

  Source: TradingView

• TOTAL3 = all crypto assets except Bitcoin and Ethereum (pure altcoin index).

  

  Source: TradingView

Crypto needed a transparent, neutral, and standardized way to measure market strength.
Before these indices, traders had no reliable way to see whether altcoins were really outperforming Bitcoin or if the whole market was just moving together.

These “TOTAL” charts now act like the pulse of the crypto market:

→ When TOTAL1 surges, it shows global liquidity entering crypto.
→ When TOTAL2 and TOTAL3 start breaking out, that’s the early heartbeat of altseason, which means money is rotating out of Bitcoin into altcoins.

The best traders use all three together, reading them like a layered weather system.

Over the years, TOTAL3 has become the de facto benchmark for altseason. When this Altcoin index starts trending upward while $BTC.X ( ▼ 0.68% ) dominance falls, which means altcoins are about to move.

And that’s exactly what’s happened. TOTAL3 just finished a phase that altcoin traders love: Altcoin season.

📊 Fundamental Drivers Behind the TOTAL3 Rally

After Bitcoin’s strong year-to-date performance, smart money starts taking profits and reallocating into higher-risk, higher-beta assets. Ethereum usually leads the next phase, followed by mid-cap layer-1s, DeFi plays, and meme sectors.

Over the past few weeks, we’ve clearly seen that rotation play out. Stablecoin supply on-chain has been rising, DEX volumes climbed, and altcoins like Avalanche, NEAR, and tokens in the Solana ecosystem attracted strong capital inflows. However, trading volume has started to cool off slightly in recent days, suggesting the market may be pausing after that initial surge.

At the same time, liquidity conditions were improving. The Fed’s stance has softened compared to 2023. Global liquidity, measured through M2 supply and U.S. dollar liquidity indexes, has been expanding modestly since Q2 2025. Historically, TOTAL3 correlates strongly with these liquidity cycles, when global money supply expands, altcoin indices tend to rise faster.

Ethereum ETF approval and institutional confidence indirectly boost confidence across the entire altcoin index. Traders start pricing in the possibility of next-in-line assets reaching similar legitimacy. That kind of speculation fuels TOTAL3’s upside.

All of that activity reflects one thing: risk appetite is back.

However, it no longer feels like a true altcoin season. DEX volumes, while still relatively high, have started to taper off, and the altcoin index has been gradually losing momentum, signaling a possible shift back toward a Bitcoin-dominated phase.

TOTAL3 usually rises first when risk appetite returns to crypto. But when we see a slight slowdown or consolidation in this index, it often means capital is being restructured and rotated into new areas of the market.

So what happens next? Let’s break down the possible scenarios in the next section.

🧠 Technical Breakdown: TOTAL3 Enters Price Discovery Mode

TOTAL3 has officially entered price discovery on the weekly timeframe — a major technical milestone.

But what does that really mean?

In simple terms, price discovery happens when an asset breaks past its previous all-time high. There’s no historical resistance beyond that point, so every new high is literally unexplored territory. It’s where price action gets raw, emotional, and often very fast.

Let’s zoom out a bit.

• In 2018, TOTAL3 peaked at around $358 billion — that was the top of that bull market.

• In 2021, it reached a new peak near $1.13 trillion. That level became the next “starting line” for any future breakout.

• Over the past year, TOTAL3 tested that same $1.13T ceiling six times, getting rejected, and finally closed above $1.14 trillion.

The reality is that from now until the end of the year, capital inflows into the market are unlikely to accelerate much further. The record 215% surge that TOTAL3 achieved in 2021 compared to the 2018 peak simply isn’t realistic this time.

If you look closely, the accumulation phase between 2018 and 2021 lasted much longer, while the 2021–2023 period was too short, with liquidity injected early to push market caps higher.

Following the natural market cycle, by the end of this year, the TOTAL3 market cap might only climb slightly higher, perhaps around the $1.5T range, before momentum starts to cool down.

What’s even more interesting is that although TOTAL3 has broken its previous high and the metrics look strong, most altcoins haven’t actually moved much. Only a handful have shown real momentum, BNB being one of the few standouts.

This raises a few important questions:

• Are market makers now focusing too heavily on launching new tokens while letting older ones fade out?

• Are recent trends like Perp DEXs and Prediction Markets being pushed as the next narrative for Q4 retail participation?

• And is CZ quietly fueling a rally in BNB to activate more of his ecosystem tokens, such as ASTER, to regain market attention?

These are questions worth watching closely, because the answers could shape how capital rotates in the next phase of the market.

If we look over at TOTAL1, it’s clear that a massive amount of capital is still flowing into Bitcoin. The index has been well above its previous peak for quite some time, and by the end of the year, the total crypto market cap could reach around $5T if this pace continues.

In short, capital inflows into altcoins have clearly slowed, with TOTAL3 repeatedly testing the $1.4T zone despite maintaining an upward trend. Meanwhile, Bitcoin’s market cap keeps rising steadily, showing that most of the new liquidity is still being absorbed by BTC rather than spreading across the broader altcoin market.

🎯 Key Takeaways: Reading TOTAL3 as Your Altcoin Compass

The TOTAL indices (TOTAL1, TOTAL2, and TOTAL3) were created by TradingView to track the overall crypto market, and TOTAL3, which excludes Bitcoin and Ethereum, has become the key altcoin index. After Bitcoin’s strong year, capital rotated into riskier assets, pushing TOTAL3 above its previous all-time high of $1.13T and officially into price discovery. However, the current momentum is weaker than in past cycles.

Despite TOTAL3’s breakout, most altcoins haven’t followed through, with only a few like BNB showing notable gains. This divergence suggests that capital is consolidating rather than expanding. Market makers may be prioritizing new token launches and upcoming narratives such as Perp DEXs and Prediction Markets, while Bitcoin continues to attract the bulk of inflows. TOTAL1 shows BTC dominance growing, and by year-end, total crypto market capitalization could approach $5T, while TOTAL3 might rise modestly toward $1.5T before stabilizing.

Overall, risk appetite remains but is shifting back toward Bitcoin, leaving altcoins in a slower, more selective phase of the cycle.